Mandeep Singh, The Indian Army at War 1947-99 (Osprey, 2025)
India is now considered one of the pre-eminent military powers in the world: it has a massive army and would present a formidable foe to any enemy. However, this has not been achieved without constant development and challenges. Mandeep Singh, a serving officer in the Indian army, narrates India’s struggles to build and secure its power in a volatile region.
Singh begins with the partition of India and its post-war armed forces. This was more complicated than a binary muslim/hindu split with Pakistan, and it led to almost immediate conflict in the Kashmir region. India also had the problem of incorporating independent states, the most notable being Hyderabad. Singh narrates operations in the First Kashmir War before embarking on the first of his ‘evolution’ chapters, highlighting the efforts of the Indian army to modernise. That was interrupted by Operation Vijay in 1961 and the war with China the following year. More changes followed, between 1962 and 1965 when the Second Kashmir War broke out with Pakistan. More change and evolution followed, leading into the Bangladesh War of 1971. A longer peace ensued through to 1984 when more fighting broke out with Pakistan in Kashmir. The Indian army ventured further afield in the late 1980s to become involved in Sri Lanka. Modernisation continued through the 1990s, which was tested in the 1999 Kargil War. Singh concludes that despite peace in the new millennium, the Indian army remains ready, enthused by the quality of its junior offices and the bravery of its soldiers.
This is an interesting if somewhat superficial survey of the post-World War II Indian army. Given how busy they have been and the multiple changes the army has undergone, there was not much room for Singh to dive any deeper. Singh’s structure of alternating operational narrative and peacetime evolution works well, however, to show the army’s development in peace and war. Nevertheless, some political background might have helped explain some of the changes in equipment. Singh is assisted by an excellent collection of colour plates and photographs of Indian soldiers. Readers interested in the development of the modern Indian army will find this book a useful primer, and Singh’s helpful select bibliography will take them further.
